Disputes over river diversions for agriculture are usually framed as “agriculture vs environment” or “agribusiness vs the environment.” In the case of the Caloosahatchee River….its “agriculture vs river health.” Click here.

Even in this case, is not the underlying issue aguatic life vs human health? When there is not enough water to go around, choices must be made. Next to having safe drinking water, safe food is pretty essential for human health, which is why water diversions for agriculture have been given a high priority.

A severe algal bloom is occurring in the western part of the lake….two feet thick in places. Beach advisories have been issued throughout the lake’s western basin. Toxin levels have tested 1,000 times the World Health Organization guideline. Click here.

Pinellas County, Florida, has voted to stop fluoridation of drinking water. In this news report (click hereor click here), an anti-fluoridation activist is identified with the “Tea Party”, which is not an organized political party.

Adding fluoride is a public health measure recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whether to add fluoride is a local community decision….although some of the claims made by the anti-fluoridation acitivists are not well documented and seem unreasonable.

To suggest that the views of anti-fluoride activists represents a “Tea Party” viewpoint is clearly political spin intended to intimidate people who identify with the “Tea Party” movement…….

OCT 6 UPDATE: It is clear from this followup article that citizens identifying themselves as the Florida Tea Party has taken on water fluoridation as one of their key issues, viewing it as government intrusion. Click here. I would expect to see more activity across the country challenging fluoridation, however, this view is not necessarily shared by others identifying themselves as Tea Party members.

School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 E-mail: hsalsali@uoguelph.ca

ABSTRACT (National Library of Medicine)

Virus removal efficiency is described for three types of silver-impregnated, ceramic water filters (CWFs) produced in Cambodia. The tests were completed using freshly scrubbed filters and de-ionized (DI) water as an evaluation of the removal efficiency of the virus in isolation with no other interacting water quality variables. Removal efficiencies between 0.21 and 0.45 log are evidenced, which is significantly lower than results obtained in testing of similar filters by other investigators utilizing surface or rain water and a less frequent cleaning regime. Other experiments generally found virus removal efficiencies greater than 1.0 log. This difference may be because of the association of viruses with suspended solids, and subsequent removal of these solids during filtration. Variability in virus removal efficiencies between pots of the same manufacturer, and observed flow rates outside the manufacturer’s specifications, suggest tighter quality control and consistency may be needed during production.